So, I designed a storage unit of my … We needed 16” to account for each drawer slide needing ¾” of space to mount and each drawer wall being ¾” thick plywood (total of 3”). Note that they’re mounted 1” in from the end of the drawer supports. Essentially, it’s what makes your truck camping rig a home. I am not going to knock any one specific set up because they all have their advantages and disadvantages. This is the width between the Drawer Supports (minus ¼” for clearance) x the height of the Drawer Supports (minus ⅛” for clearance). We did not bedline any unexposed surfaces. $1,500: Truck Bed Cap. For the sleeping platform to be complete you will need two outer boxes that go over your truck’s wheel wells. Section #4 serves as a removable cover for our dirty-shoe/gear storage. Cut a sheet of 1/2″ plywood to fit. A Note About Security: For both personal safety and peace of mind, make sure your truck bed camping build-out is secure.Both your tailgate and the canopy should have locks, but make sure they’re up to snuff. You can literally just throw an air mattress, a sleeping bag, and some plastic storage containers* filled with gear in the bed of your truck, like our friend at #opt4scenic. Pin it! If you want to improve your security, you can devise a latching system using a hasp lock to provide an additional layer of security. The patented design comes with Heavy Duty Cloth Material for superior puncture resistance with cutouts on each side that allow the mattress to fit around & over the wheel wells, creating a sleep area that utilizes the entire truck bed. And as you can see on the right, a 4”x5” hole was cut from the rear Passenger-side support to allow for longer items (like my Tenkara fly rod!) You have the possibility of camping wherever you choose. By doing this, the Drawer Faces (once attached to the end of the drawers) will close flush in between the Drawer Supports. The list was daunting, but we knew we wanted: Enough space to sleep 2 (plus a rapidly growing toddler) to 3 people comfortably, A pickup truck camping platform strong enough to still be used to haul things when not in use for truck camping - while also being removable if need be, Built in storage for a Dual Battery Setup using our Inergy Kodiak Solar Generator, 12V charging ports for cell-phones & laptops. And in the end, we found the result was definitely worth the extra time, work, and investment! Determining your budget is a pivotal part of deciding which sleeping platform will be right for your truck shell camping adventures. However, using this amount of cabinet grade plywood does add a bit of extra weight to the truck, and it is also a bit of an ordeal to remove if needed. Despite our strong desire to play an adult version of K’nex in the back of our truck, this just wasn’t the option for us. For weekend camping trips and short-term travel this is a great truck bed camping solution since you can just as easily pull everything right back out and go about your daily life, while still being able to use your truck like a truck. Then the Side Walls and Back Walls were attached to one another with Horizontal Kreg Jig joints. COMMERCIAL. You also need to determine the amount of space that is available to you at the back of your truck. There’s a LOT of info in this post, just take it slow - You can do it! You can use this guide to help select which sleeping platform design is right for your diy truck camper build, and then customize it to best fit your own truck camping needs. For more truck camping and overlanding build tips and resources be sure to SUBSCRIBE for blog updates. So for about $700-$1000 (including the camper shell) you can have a great camping rig that you can be proud of. Though this truck shell camping platform sacrifices some headroom compared to other build methods, we were able to maximize headroom by making sure the platform was built to rest just at wheel-well height and as low as possible. Most trucks feature a pre-installed tailgate table that can be used as a cooking … The truck shell camping platform is the foundation of any DIY pickup truck camping build. Though you could make your drawers any width you want by changing the position of the center drawer support to the right or left, we decided to make the driver-side drawer 13” wide (interior-width) to perfectly fit our Cook Partner stove. Contact Us, Sleeping Platform Build Diagrams Printable, truck camping, interior, gear, camp kitchen, how to. 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